Andy Carroll scored for the first time since April Fool’s Day to spare West Ham the ignominy of becoming the punch-line in a joke about too much rest in the festive fixture schedule.
The Hammers were trailing to a deflected goal scored by James McClean and booed off at half-time as West Bromwich Albion defied their concerns about a second game in 48 hours.
Carroll equalised with a header as the hour approached and slid in the winning goal from an acute angle in the fourth-minute of stoppage time to lift the Hammers out of the bottom three.